1. Tolerance is the only test of civilization. ——Horbutz (UK)
Tolerance is the only test of civilization. The world is diverse. In a diverse world, there will be different nations, cultures and voices. Being able to accept and tolerate diverse forms and contents that are different from oneself is a manifestation of human civilization and wisdom. It is also the glory of institutional civilization and the harmony of an enlightened nation. The heart of the nation. Benevolent government can accommodate all kinds of human culture, wisdom, ideas, judgments, behaviors, temperaments, customs, and even temporary deviations, mistakes, and mistakes. It can gather friends and turn enemies into friends. It can stabilize people's hearts and enable citizens to live and work in peace and contentment, fully participate in, and make mistakes. Long-lasting happiness and health. Among all resentments, hatreds, revenges, games, and conflicts, only tolerance is the most noble and stable. Compared with the former, it appears harmonious, elegant, and enlightened. This is the only test of civilization.
A generous spirit is the greatest of all things. Tolerance comes from a generous spiritual realm. Magnanimity can accommodate everything precisely because of its large tolerance. It is the highest taste and state of all human ways of thinking and behavior. It is also the container of all things in the world. Its inclusive spirit is the most noble, enlightened, stable, simple and great. She is calm in the face of death, she is wise in the face of cunning, she is rational in the face of blind obedience, she is persevering in the face of difficulties, she is strong in the face of cruelty, she is humble in the face of arrogance, she is She is noble in the face of meanness, magnanimous in the face of intolerance, harmonious in the face of struggle, and civilized in the face of the world. In the face of resentment, hatred, crazy revenge and brutal murder, tolerance is the greatest civilization and is invincible.
Sidney Smith once said: What you intend to achieve with strength and anger, you can achieve with forgiveness. What is the power and charm of tolerance? There are indeed many such evidences in life, how despicable, small and pitiful jealousy and revenge are in the face of tolerance. The British poet Wordsworth once said: Tolerance is the most perfect thing we can do. Tolerance, as a kind of transcendence and sublimation of human nature, is extremely precious and rare. The long history of mankind has proved that tolerance is the manifestation of human civilization and the blessing of progress. Countries and people who tirelessly pursue harmony and civilization vigorously advocate tolerance and overcome intolerance.
The great Russian writer Turgenev once said: Those who cannot tolerate others are not worthy of being tolerated by others. Violin master Isaac Stern said: Only brave people know how to tolerate; a coward will never tolerate, it is not his nature. Cowards are always full of suspicion, resentment, hatred, and complacency
2. People cannot be arrogant, but they cannot be without pride. ——Xu Beihong
What our people lack now is such a kind of pride, a spirit that can make us straighten our backs and look down at others, a kind of arrogant temperament that permeates our blood.
The biggest disadvantage of the Chinese nation that everyone talks about is nothing more than slavish thinking (a very appropriate and unpleasant pronoun). From individuals to countries, we all like to see other people's things being good. Moreover, most of us choose to be driven and bully others. For example, for most of us, we all like to exaggerate and brag to a certain extent, or we think from the bottom of our hearts that ours should be better in front of others. And when we face fellow users of this thing or our close relatives, we like to talk about the various shortcomings of this thing. I like to say that my own things are good, but I also think that other people's things are better. This is a great manifestation of slavish thinking, the smell of meat in other people's bowls. This is a form of arrogance, not pride. We should humbly say that our own is not good enough, but we should also feel that our own is excellent. This is a kind of pride and nobility.
This is true in small aspects, but more obvious in large aspects. Advocating for foreigners, I always feel that countries and lives in Europe, America, and even Korea and Japan are much better than ours. Most of what we talk about within the country is our own shortcomings and the advantages of foreign countries. In this comparison, we always feel that we are inferior to others. But we still cling to our 5,000-year civilization and are content with the prosperous times of the Han and Tang Dynasties. We despise the United States and say that they only have 300 years of history, while we have 5,000 years. Our Chinese culture is broad and profound. We always claim it, not think it. How many people can feel proud that we have such a cultural atmosphere in China? The former is a kind of arrogance, and the latter is a kind of pride.
Having arrogance but not arrogance is the bottom; without arrogance and no arrogance, it is the middle and lower; superior.
In modern times, arrogant Chinese people only account for a small part. Most people talk about our various shortcomings with each other for the sake of complaining. Few people talk about it to discover problems and provide solutions. Add motivation to solve it yourself. But those who can truly lead China forward and lead our people in struggle are still a group of proud people. Such a group of people think that they are the best (of course they do not deny the excellence of other countries). They have a proud sense of national pride and enterprising spirit. They are very conscious and do not just think that they are excellent. They can discover their own shortcomings and learn from each other's strengths. They talk about the excellence of foreign countries in order to make themselves better, and they talk about their own shortcomings in order to make themselves more perfect.
They will not simply compare the strengths of others with their own shortcomings, but will use the strengths of others to supplement their own shortcomings. But consciously, you compare your strengths to others' weaknesses (of course, you don't necessarily claim this).
(To add a little bit, I consciously make myself speak for myself, and declare that I am speaking to outsiders. I refer to the Chinese people themselves)
One manifestation of slavish thinking is weakness. Because we don’t think we are strong and we don’t think we can defeat others, we are weak. When a powerful person cuts off a piece of our flesh, we just scold him to save our face (for the sake of pride), but we are secretly glad that he did not cut off more flesh (no pride). Even though they cut our flesh, we still have to please them. We may not be strong enough, but we must be tough. Why don't tigers fight newborn calves? Because calves are not afraid of tigers. The tiger knows that he can defeat it and will not provoke it easily. And a tough attitude can bring us respect. The law of the jungle always applies to human beings. No one will sympathize with weakness. Weakness and compromise will only lead to more bullying.
Looking at our close neighbors, whether they are Japanese pirates, South Korea (South Korea) or India, their national spirits have a certain degree of arrogance, but they have brought an arrogance that is not commensurate with their arrogance. Regardless of how the Japanese pirates bullied us and occupied the Diaoyu Islands. Let’s look at current South Korea first. They have always been our vassal states. No matter what dynasty they have, we have troops stationed on their land. Whenever they are invaded, they will ask for our help. Until the end of the Korean War, the United States controlled Korea south of the 38th Parallel. In the 1970s and 1980s, they developed rapidly economically with the support of the United States through trade with China and Japanese pirates. Economic prosperity has brought national self-esteem to this low-self-esteem nation (rather than spontaneous formation). They have pride, so they dare to openly challenge the Japanese pirates. Now they are actually challenging their ancestors and grabbing everything for us. And those of us "elites" who want to save face are also very "gentlemanly". The Dragon Boat Festival became their festival, Qu Yuan became a Korean; tofu and bean juice were invented by them; Chinese food was not as good as Korean barbecue kimchi; Chinese medicine became "Korean medicine". Now they actually say that Confucius is a Korean, that Mid-Autumn Festival is a Korean holiday, that the Korean Peninsula (referring to them, South Korea, of course) has a 7,000-year history and civilization, and that the Korean Peninsula is the main birthplace and component of Asian culture. . What's even worse is that they occupied our Suyan Reef. Not to mention that they want to change the Yellow Sea into the "West Sea" of South Korea. Even Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia now occupy our islands in the internationally recognized "South China Sea" (our South China Sea).
It can be said that we seek peace, but others think that we only seek peace if we cannot defeat it. But if we become tough and no one dares to mess with us, we should still seek peace, so that others will respect us more instead of ridiculing us. This is the true fashion of a great country. (A 1.9-meter-tall burly man hit a 1.5-meter-tall dwarf with bare hands with an iron rod. The short man said, "I'm not like you. I want peace and we won't fight." A 1.9-meter-tall man with an iron bar hit him. The great man stood in front of the 1.5-meter-long dwarf, patting him on the head and saying, "You want peace, don't bluff. Which peace is persuasive?") Add to that: This is not that the government is incompetent, it just tells us that pride is incompetent. few. Our arrow must be on the string. Before it is time to draw the arrow, we must wait until the string is fully stretched before we draw the arrow. One arrow must be fatal.
In fact, since modern times, our Chinese nation has been invincible. Regardless of the reasons analyzed by those "elites", we still defeated the arrogant Japanese pirates (yellow) army, we defeated the U.S. Army which had never been defeated, we fought with the Soviet Union over Zhenbao Island, we defeated Vietnam, we of People's Liberation Army troops have seen New Delhi. No matter what, we are all winners. Moreover, we do have a history of 5,000 years, but we do not need 5,000 years of history to show off, but to understand our own history and see why we were strong when we were prosperous and how we were invaded when we were weak. We must draw lessons from history and we must step out of history. We must understand our own national culture. Once we understand it, we will find that our culture is the best, and only then can we develop a sense of national pride. Forgetting the past means betrayal. We must understand ourselves and discover our own strengths.
We must believe deep down that we are excellent. We must be able to recognize our own shortcomings and work hard to improve instead of complaining all day long; we must understand the strengths of others and work hard to learn instead of blindly flattering and admiring them. This will allow your strength to grow rapidly. Just complain and vent, there is no need to think that you are not good. To scold China is to scold yourself, because we are all Chinese and China is a collection of us. If we understand ourselves and discover our own strengths, we will know that we are excellent. If each of us has pride, the Chinese will be respected by others. We must first be spiritual giants. But what we lack in our blood now is such a noble element, and we are not proud enough.
We must realize this. We must be proud, but we cannot be as arrogant as some neighboring countries. The Chinese nation has stood up and is now getting richer. But this is not enough. What the Chinese dragon needs is to take off.
We must believe that we can work hard together to make the Chinese dragon dominate the world, look down at the whole world noblely, and roar proudly: The Chinese nation is the greatest nation in the world!
3. The court of conscience never adjourns. ——Tom Fuller (UK)
In modern society, we use rules to describe circles; deep in our hearts, there is a ruler that marks our souls. In life, we judge right and wrong based on legal provisions; outside the law, there is always a court that tests conscience.